Agents' Unique Blend Sells Albums, Tickets

If you watched Agents of Good Roots play at the Jewish Mother in Virginia Beach last month, you probably noticed a familiar figure grooving near the edge of the stage.

Charlottesville's own rock hero Dave Matthews - in town the night before his band's performance at the Virginia Beach Amphitheater - spent an evening taking in the Agents' set.

"At the end of the night Dave was jamming out to our tunes," said sax player J.C. Kuhl. "It was a great night - the place was packed. And the next night, Dave plugged our band at his show."

Matthews isn't the only person excited about the Agents' refreshing blend of soul, jazz and rock. In the band's home town of Richmond, a crowd of 200-300 regularly shows up to enjoy its weekly gigs. The band has sold 2,000 copies of its independently produced album, "Where'd You Get That Vibe?"

And the band has signed up to play eight dates on the popular H.O.R.D.E. tour - featuring Lenny Kravitz and Blues Traveler - which will head down the East Coast later this summer.

A major-label record deal may be just around the corner. Band members confirmed that several have been courting the band since it played the South By Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas, in March.

So far, the group doesn't seem to be in danger of falling prey to its own hype. The quartet isn't leaping on the first attractive deal that gets dangled before it. The four 23-year-old men are taking their time and considering their options.

"We're not interested in making the fast buck," Kuhl said. "We're into having staying power."

Agents of Good Roots are largely the creation of two Roanoke natives: guitarist/singer Andrew Winn and bassist/singer Stewart Myers. Winn moved to Richmond to attend Virginia Commonwealth University and began playing in pickup bands. Soon, he met drummer Brian Jones, who was attending University of Richmond. They started writing songs together. Meyers eventually joined them in Richmond as part of the group.

They played their first gig at an open mike night at a club called the Moondance in Richmond. At that time, the band's sound was quite different. "We sounded a little like Cream, I guess," Winn said. "We really evolved into this sound we have. We've done a lot of processing of the sound, we're really proud of that."

Soon, the band recruited a sax player. But that position in the lineup wasn't set until Winn, Myers and Jones found Kuhl. A Baltimore native, Kuhl was playing a summer gig at King's Dominion. It didn't take much convincing to get Kuhl to join instead of heading back to Baltimore, where he was majoring in music at Towson State University.

Kuhl saw the group play at the Flood Zone in Richmond, and instantly, he knew they were onto something. "I was blown away, actually," he said. "I couldn't wait to get going."

With a permanent horn player on board, the group's fortunes brightened.

The band has been working full time for about eight months. They play five or six nights a week, mostly in Virginia-to-Atlanta region. But the group has started to expand its circuit, taking gigs in New York, Chicago and New England.

It released "Where'd You Get That Vibe?" back in April.

And the group has benefited from the support of Red Light Management, the Charlottesville company that handles affairs for Dave Matthews Band.

But is the band's music essentially rock or jazz? Winn claims the group falls more on the rock side of that dividing line. "But what is rock 'n' roll?" he asked. "We're not really worried about being categorized."

He said his tastes know no boundaries. "I like Stevie Wonder, Prince, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, the Beastie Boys, Tribe Called Quest, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor.

"We're not really worrying about what it is," he said "We're just playing."